Home
by adelaidybug
Summary: Claudia Donovan has been tossed around in the foster system since she was 7 years old. Is this house any different from the others? Is this a place she can finally call home?
1. Chapter 1

**I'm back with a new story! I haven't given up on my old ones, so if there is a particular story you'd like to see more of, send me a message or review. Enjoy!**

 **(I don't own Warehouse 13 or its characters. No copyright infringement intended.)**

* * *

One morning shortly after 10am, Leena received a phone call from Abigail, a social worker who had signed off on her fostering license just a few weeks before.

"Hi Leena, this is Abigail. "

"Hi, good to hear from you. I assume you have a possible foster child in need of placement?"

"Yes. I've got a 14 year old girl in need of placement in the next 2 to 3 days."

"Okay. That sounds fine. The kids will be excited to meet her. Where is she right now?"

"Um, that's the thing." The woman said hesitantly. "She's… well, she's in the hospital right now."

* * *

Claudia was trying to comb her greasy hair into some semblance of order with her left hand. Her social worker, Abigail, was driving her to her new foster home, and she hadn't showered in over five days. She had been pulled quite suddenly from her former home, when someone reported the screams coming from the house. The doctor had made her stay in the hospital for five days. Apparently having a collapsed lung due to broken ribs was a pretty big deal. Or, maybe it was the fact that she had a concussion. Or, maybe it had something to do with her dislocated shoulder. She had so many injuries, it was difficult for her to determine exactly which of them made her stay in the hospital for so long. All Claudia knew was that everything hurt like hell. She was still on powerful pain meds that made her slightly nauseated, but without them, the pain was so bad she couldn't see straight. Even now, every bump on the highway made her wince.

Way too soon, Abigail's car pulled up at a nice-looking blue house.

"You ready?"

Claudia stared at her social worker.

 _Did she really expect her to answer?_

She slowly, painfully exited the car, her ribs screaming at her. Abigail rang the doorbell, and Claudia tried to straighten her wrinkled clothing with her left hand.

"Hi, Abigail. And, you must be Claudia?"

The girl nodded.

"I'm Leena. Come on inside."

"Claudia, these are my kids, Pete and Myka."

She nodded at the two older teenagers, looking down and wishing she didn't look so weird. Her foster father had wrenched her right shoulder out of the socket, and she was now wearing a sling for that. She also had a black eye and her lip was split. Those were her visible injuries. They couldn't see how her ribs seemed to shatter with every breath or how her head pounded, or how she was so hurt and scared and angry that she felt as if she might burn up at any moment.

"Claudia, do you want something to drink?"

She just stared at the woman.

 _Had Abigail not told this woman that she hadn't spoken in the last 5 days? Not a sound had escaped her lips except perhaps during the nightmares that had popped out of nowhere the last night as she slept. A nurse had awakened her, and she had found herself drenched in sweat and tears._

Leena got a glass of water and handed it to her.

"Claudia, I need to go. If you need anything, you have my number," Abigail said.

The redhead nodded.

 _She knew her social worker felt badly about her last placement, but she didn't blame her. It wasn't Claudia's first bad home. She had been beaten or verbally abused in every foster home she had been in, however, this abuse had been far worse than ever before. She had never before wished so acutely that she could die. That feeling had somewhat passed, but the feelings of shame and depression and hopelessness lingered on. This was now her 7th home in 7 years, and she didn't know if she should even try to feel comfortable here._

The social worker had left, and Claudia was now alone with her new foster family.

"So Claudia, have you ever played Call of Duty?" Pete asked.

She shook her head.

"Huh. Well, I guess I'll have to teach you."

She nodded.

"Do you like books?" Myka piped up.

She nodded.

The brunette girl smiled.

"Claudia, do you want to sit down?" Leena asked, noticing the girl clutching her ribs with her right hand.

A nod of her head made Leena bring her into the living room, where she sat down on a firm chair. She knew if she sat down on the squishy couch, that getting up would kill her ribs.

"I'm making spaghetti for dinner," the woman said.

A week ago, she would have made a snarky comment in reply to the woman's declaration. Now, she stared steadily at the floor while she picked at a scab on her face.

As the family told her about themselves and asked her more questions, she began to feel sweaty and overwhelmed.

"You're looking a little sick," Leena said.

Claudia nodded fervently.

"Do you think you're going to throw up?"

She shook her head.

"Do you want to just go to bed?"

The girl just stared at her, breathing a bit raggedly.

"Here, I'll show you your room."

She slowly followed Leena up the stairs, wincing with every step, and finally she was in a simple, cozy room with a very comfortable looking bed piled with blankets and pillows.

"You've got a bathroom through that door, and there's towels and toiletries in the cupboard. If you need anything else, I'm just down the hall, last door on the right. We'll go over some ground rules in the morning, okay?"

Claudia tilted her head slightly and Leena finally left. She debated just going straight to bed, but decided she needed a shower. It _had_ been five days. Carefully, she pulled the sling off her shoulder.

It took her several minutes and a significant amount of discomfort to get her shirt and bra off, but it was well worth it to get clean.

When in the shower, she accidentally moved her right arm, and had to hold a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. It hurt like nothing else, and didn't stop when she stopped moving. She shook violently for a few minutes before the pain finally started to dissipate.

Cautiously, she continued to clean herself, and by the time she was finally in her pajamas, she was exhausted. Leena had left a water bottle beside her bottle of pain pills, and the girl quickly swallowed a pill and got into bed, groaning quietly from the pain in her jostled ribs. It wasn't till the pain pill kicked in that she was able to fall asleep, and once she did, her night was plagued by one nightmare after another.

When she finally awoke the next morning, it was to go to the bathroom. As she scooted her body toward the edge of the bed, she gritted her teeth to keep from yelling at the pain in her ribs. When she was done in the bathroom, she swallowed a pain pill and made her way downstairs.

She finally made it downstairs and saw that Leena was working at the kitchen table on a laptop. She had glasses perched on the edge of her nose.

"Good morning," the woman said brightly. "There's pancakes and syrup in the fridge."

The girl turned toward the fridge, opened it, and spent a few moments finding the food she was looking for. She pulled the ziploc bag of pancakes and container of syrup out one by one with her left hand, and jumped when she turned to find Leena behind her with a plate.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just thought you might need an extra hand."

Claudia let the woman help her get her breakfast ready, and sat down at the counter to eat.

"Do you mind if I go over a few ground rules, Claudia?"

She nodded.

"Okay. First, I ask that you let me know if you want to leave the house. Second, Pete, Myka and I are going to treat you with respect and we'd like that in return. You can use the computer any time, just keep your time brief if Pete or Myka also want to use it, and they'll do the same. Do you smoke?"

She shook her head.

"Good. I don't smoke or drink, and I ask that you don't either. I have a phone for you to use as long as your staying with me," she said, handing her a phone. "If you're out and about, I want you to keep that on you so we can contact each other. You've got my number, Pete and Myka's numbers, and Abigail's number pre-programmed in. Do you have any questions?"

She shook her head.

"Okay. Claudia, I know you're not talking right now, and there is no pressure for you to do so. I know you're working through a lot right now, and I want to respect your space to do that. Buy if there is anything I can help with, or if you do want to talk to me, just let me know, okay? You could text me or write me a note, or whatever works for you."

She had to admit, the woman's sincerity was unexpected. As Leena went back to her work on the laptop, Claudia was already thinking dangerously. What if this home was different? What if this woman really, truly cared about her?


	2. Chapter 2

**Trigger warning for self harm. Stay safe, friends.**

* * *

(The night before, after Claudia went to bed.)

Leena went back down the stairs, to find her children quietly sitting at the table.

"Wow, I don't hear this much silence in the house when I'm alone. What's going on?"

"Mom, what happened to her?" Myka asked.

"Yeah, she looks like someone beat the sh- crap out of her." Pete followed up.

"And why doesn't she talk?"

"Alright, slow down." Leena said, sitting down at the table and taking a drink of water. "Claudia was in a foster home before this, and they didn't treat her well. She got hurt, and was taken out of there and brought here. She hasn't opened up about what happened, and I don't want either of you to pressure her about it, okay?"

"That should be easy, she doesn't say anything." Pete said.

"She has what the doctors are calling selective mutism or post-traumatic mutism. She hasn't talked at all since she was taken out of that foster home. The best thing to do is to make her feel safe and take off the pressure to speak. Do you guys think you can do that?"

Both teenagers nodded.

"Good. You guys remember what it was like to be fostered. It's scary feeling like you're on your own. Just do your best to make her feel welcomed."

They both nodded, and carried on with dinner.

The teenagers _did_ remember being fostered, and it seemed to weigh on their minds the rest of the night. Pete had been eight. His father had died two years before his mother mysteriously disappeared. Leena fostered him for a year, and then adopted him.

Myka had been ten when she finally got out of her birth home. Her father had been physically abusing her for years. Her mother hadn't been able to stand up to him, as she was mentally unstable and also abused. Eventually, the police had been called on their behalf. Her father had gone to prison, her mother had been deemed unfit to parent, and Myka had gone into the foster care system. She had been adopted by Leena when she was 12, and still had visits with her birth-mother once a month.

So yes, the siblings did remember. They were often haunted with the remembrance of those dark times.

* * *

(The present morning)

Claudia had returned to her room. She was laying on her bed, trying not to think about how much her head and ribs hurt. Suddenly, there was a knock on her door, and she got up painfully, making her way to open the door. Myka was on the other side.

"Hi. Thought you might be bored."

Claudia shrugged.

"You want to come to my room? You don't have to talk, or anything. I thought you might want something to read."

The small redhead nodded and followed the older girl into her room.

The girl's room was wall-to-wall bookshelves, except the portions of two walls that the bed rested against, and where the window had been placed. There were dictionaries, series, anthologies, biographies, fairy tales, suspense novels, cookbooks, and every other kind of book one could dream of.

Claudia couldn't help but go a bit slack jawed. She hadn't owned any books since her brother had died. Most of her brother's things had been sold off to pay for his small memorial service.

"Yeah, my mom supports my book vice. I also work at a bookstore, so that helps. Feel free to take a couple to read. Just write them down on the list," she said, indicating a list of borrowed books with "borrowed" and "returned" dates. She raised an eyebrow. This girl was definitely organized.

Claudia looked through the books, occasionally taking one and looking at the back. It was difficult to open the books with only one hand, especially since she had to prop them up against her broken ribs, but she managed.

Myka noticed the girl's sunny disposition when in the presence of all the books. It made her excited that someone else shared her love of literature. Suddenly, she saw the girl's expression change. At first, she became wide-eyed, almost like she was frightened. Then, her lips began to quiver, and her eyes turned glassy. Myka looked at the book that Claudia was holding. It was a copy of _Epistolae de Terrae Motu,_ a work by Rheticus.

The older girl wasn't quite sure what to do as the younger girl hugged the book to herself and began to cry in earnest. At first she just watched Claudia. Then, she grabbed the novel she had been reading lately and sat down on one of the floor cushions. She pushed another toward Claudia, who didn't notice at first, but eventually sat down on it, her tears slowing. The girl pulled a book from the bottom shelf about computer coding, and spent the next two hours reading it as her head pounded steadily away. She wasn't supposed to be reading. She was supposed to be resting her brain from the concussion she had. _Oh well,_ she thought. _I'm a rebel at heart. Dying from book-reading would be an aptly depressing way to die._

She sat there reading until the pain of her ribs and head combined to the point of nausea, and she forced herself to get up to take some pain pills. She wrote down the name of the book and the date on the sheet on the wall.

"Claudia," Myka called, before the girl could exit the room.

She turned.

"Are you okay?"

Taking a shaky breath, she nodded.

"If you want to talk, or just come and read again, let me know."

Claudia nodded and returned to her room, grabbing her bottle of meds and taking out two.

She laid down on her bed, wincing and adjusting her rib binder that was supposed to make her ribs feel secure. Despite her discomfort, exhaustion hit, and she was asleep within a few minutes.

* * *

Leena knocked on the girl's door a few hours later, but didn't get an answer.

"Claudia? Can I come in?" A pang of worry hit her, and she knocked and waited for a few seconds before opening the door. She was relieved to find the redhead sprawled out on her bed, sleeping. Leena moved further into the room and noticed that Claudia had a grimace on her face. The woman watched the girl for a moment, when Claudia began to whimper.

"Honey, wake up," the woman said, reaching to touch the girl's left shoulder.

The girl flinched away and rolled onto her injured right shoulder. She yelped, flailing and rolling back.. She had opened her eyes, and was now breathing hard and glancing around quickly..

"Claudia, are you okay?"

The girl's face turned red and she nodded.

"I have some lunch downstairs."

She nodded and got up, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"Still a little sleepy?"

Claudia gave a nod and followed Leena down the stairs.

Over the next few nights, Leena heard Claudia's voice for the first time. The problem was, she only heard her voice when she was screaming through nightmare after nightmare. When Leena tried to wake her up at night, she would avoid eye contact and flush, but still said nothing.

* * *

Five days after she had arrived, Claudia had made no efforts to communicate beyond nodding and shaking her and Leena were currently in the waiting room at local clinic. The girl had a doctor's appointment to check her healing ribs.

When a nurse finally called the girl's name, she got up stiffly and followed to a room several hallways away.

"You'll need to change into a gown for the doctor to check your shoulder and ribs. You can keep your pants on, but take off your shirt and bra."

Claudia was thankful when Leena left the room to give her privacy while she changed. She carefully took off the sling that held her shoulder in place. It took a long time to get her shirt off, because of her still delicate shoulder. When she had finally changed, she opened the door, and Leena walked back in.

They sat for another few minutes, and finally the doctor came in.

"Hi Claudia, I'm Dr. Harrison. How are you doing?"

The girl shrugged her left shoulder and and smirked.

"Can I have a look at that shoulder?"

She nodded, pulling her gown off her right shoulder and tucking it under her armpit. Her skin was covered in painful-looking bruising.

"How's your pain level from one to ten?"

She pointed toward her shoulder and then her ribs, with a questioning gaze.

"Just for your shoulder."

She held six fingers near her lap, avoiding moving her shoulder.

"Okay. I'm going to move your shoulder now."

She bit her lip, and when the doctor gently moved her arm upward, she made a guttural noise in her throat, tears springing to her eyes.

"Alright, sorry. I know that hurt."

Letting out a shaky breath, she wiped her eyes with her left hand.

"I know, I'm sorry."

He let her compose herself, then checked her ribs. Her abdomen was covered in deep purple and black bruises. Leena's horror and curiosity were sending her thoughts through a whirlwind.

"How are these feeling?"

Claudia held out 7 fingers.

"Alright. How are your pain meds working?"

She nodded.

"Good?"

She nodded again.

"Alright. I'm going to give you enough for two more weeks. Have you been referred to a psychiatrist?"

She raised an eyebrow and looked to Leena.

"No she hasn't," Leena said. "Is this about her speaking?"

"Yes. She hasn't spoken at all, has she?"

"No."

"I'm an ortho doctor, so this isn't my area, but we have several psychiatrists in our practice."

"How do you feel about it, Claudia?" Leena asked.

She put her left hand to her forehead for a moment, then shrugged her left shoulder.

"We'll take the names and decide together who would be best to see Claudia."

* * *

That night, Pete invited Claudia to play Call of Duty with him. He had taught her to play two nights before. Myka had to be Claudia's right hand, since the girl's own was in a sling strapped to her body.

"So," Pete said, as he loaded up the game, "Could you talk if you wanted to?"

" _Pete,"_ Myka hissed.

Claudia waved off the nervous girl and nodded at Pete.

"So why don't you?"

She just stared at the wall.

"Are you mad?"

She shook her head.

"Scared?"

Her eyes found his and she nodded.

"You know we're not going to get mad at you, right?" Pete asked.

She dropped the controller and put her left hand over her face, nodding slightly. She seemed to be getting upset.

"Claudia, in your old foster home…" Myka began, "were you hurt because of something you said?"

The girl got up abruptly, making a small sound at the pressure in her ribs, and disappearing into her room.

"Jeez," Pete said.

"We should have been easier on her."

"We were just asking questions."

"She's upset and it's our fault."

"What is she going to do when school starts in two weeks? She's not going to be able to make friends or answer questions in class."

"I don't know. But our job is to make her feel stable and comfortable, not to judge her."

"You're right. Should we go apologize?"

The older girl nodded and the two got up and went to Claudia's door. Myka knocked.

"Claudia, it's us. Can we come in?" Pete said.

There was no response.

"We're sorry, Claude," Myka continued. "We should have been less invasive."

They heard the shower start running and knew the girl wasn't going to answer them, so the sibling went back to their own rooms, both of them feeling guilty.

Claudia was sitting in her shower, letting the water run over her. Her thoughts had gotten going, and now they wouldn't stop. She felt physically ill, and wondered whether she was going to throw up or pass out. In the end, she did neither. Instead, she noticed one of the two-blade razors in the shower that Leena had left there for her. Her stomach turned. Was she going to do this again? It had been several months since the last time\\. She was trying to stop. But… now she he had the idea in her head. And now she _had_ to. She pulled the razor down to where she was sitting and didn't get out of her zone till several minute later. She leaned back against the wall, letting more water pour over her and looking at the red drips down her pale skin. She felt relieved and ready to face everything again.

It didn't matter what she had seen that night before her foster father nearly beat the life from her. It didn't matter that her foster father had told her as she was pulled away from his beating fists that if she told a living soul what she had seen he would hunt her down and kill her. Everything was fine now. It was fine as long as she stayed quiet.

* * *

 **Reviews are the grease that makes my writing gears work!**


	3. Chapter 3

School was starting in a week and Claudia was riddled with anxiety. How was she going to survive in school without talking? Currently, she and Leena were sitting in the living room, watching a boring show about remodeling houses.

"Claudia, Abigail called me this morning." Leena said, her voice careful.

 _That was it. Leena was giving her back. It had only been a matter of time._

"She said your last foster father, Richard Lavoye, is out of jail. His wife paid his bail."

She felt like she couldn't breathe.

"I set up an appointment for you with a lawyer."

The girl looked up and shook her head vehemently.

"Honey, I know you don't want to talk. But that man hurt you. He could have killed you. He shouldn't just get away with that. Couldn't you write something?"

Starting to cry, she shook her head. Leena felt horrible. She didn't want to make Claudia upset, and she knew the girl was terrified.

"I know this is scary. But we can't just let it slip that this man abused you."

The breath seemed to get stuck Claudia's lungs. If this went to trial, she'd be dead before she made it on the stand. She felt like she was suffocating.

"Honey, try to breathe."

The world seemed to tilt on its axis and Claudia sobbed and gasped. This exercised her already aching ribs, and her head started to pound again. Suddenly, she knew she was going to be sick, and got up in a hurry, scrambling toward the bathroom. Unfortunately, her body betrayed her about five feet from the door, and she vomited down the front of her shirt, then onto the floor. She couldn't stop herself from the heaves and retches that followed. All she knew was that at some point she found herself on the floor, head over a bucket. A cool hand swiped her vomit-crusted hair away from her face.

"It's alright, sweetie. Just breathe."

She ended up in a sweaty, exhausted heap, her head resting on Leena's leg.

"It's okay. You're okay. I'm not going to make you go to trial. I'm really sorry, honey. Just relax."

A fresh wave of tears flooded Claudia's system at that, and Leena carefully stroked the girl's her tears finally began to fade, she got up, groaning at the pain.

"I bet you're pretty tired, aren't you?"

She sniffled and nodded.

"Why don't you get cleaned up, and I'll get some supper started?"

Nodding, she got up and made her way to her bathroom.

Once she was in the shower, she noticed the razor sitting on the shelf. Her hand seemed to reach for it of its own accord, but she quickly retracted it. Then she reached and took it. Her hand shook. She reached toward her skin, then stopped. _Was she really going to do this again?_ She reached for her skin again. _Yes, apparently, she was._ After she emerged from her focused state, she realized that she may have gotten a bit excessive. She got out of the shower and her thighs were still bleeding.

She grabbed some toilet paper, which disintegrated on her legs from her skill damp skin. Eventually she sopped up the blood on her thighs and dug in the cupboard until she found some bandages. She placed these over the worst of her cuts, and wrapped the packaging in toilet paper many times, until it looked like a wrapped pad. This had taken a significant portion of time and she hurriedly got dressed, hoping Leena wouldn't suspect anything.

Downstairs, Leena was making baked mac and cheese. Claudia smiled in appreciation over the great smell, then grabbed a stack of plates from the cupboard with her left hand and slowly started setting the table.

"Thanks for doing that, Claudia. I wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn't realize you would get so upset."

The girl turned and faced the woman, nodding her head and accepting the apology.

"So we have that appointment with the psychiatrist tomorrow. Are you feeling okay about that?"

She nodded.

"Good."

There was a ring at the doorbell, and Leena went to get it. A gorgeous dark-haired girl walked in.

"Claudia, this is Helena, Myka's girlfriend."

She hadn't known that Myka was a lesbian, or bi, or whatever, but thought with this girl, how could she not be?

"Nice to meet you Claudia," the girl said with a beautiful British accent.

She tried at something resembling a smile. Myka, hearing her girlfriend's voice, came bounding down the stairs to hug Helena. Myka was taller than her, and Claudia thought it was sort of cute how Helena's head ended up resting against her girlfriend's shoulder when they embraced.

Pete came down after a moment and the family sat down for supper.

* * *

The next day, Claudia was answering a questionnaire that seemed to be a thousand questions long while Leena talked privately with the psychiatrist. As it went on, the questions got more specific-and personal.

 **29\. You want to commit suicide**

B. Rarely

(Maybe it was more than rarely… oh well.)

 **30\. You purposefully harm yourself (cutting, scratching, burning, hitting, biting)**

A. Never

(Yeah, she felt a little bit guilty about lying.)

 **31\. You skip meals**

C. Sometimes

 **32\. You fast to lose weight**

A. Never

 **33\. You force yourself to vomit after you eat**

A. Never

 **34\. You have trouble controlling your anger**

 **35\. You hit walls, damage possessions, ect. when you are angry**

A. Never

Answering some of these questions made her feel down-right normal.

When she finally went to speak with the psychiatrist, the woman had her point to two different cards: "Yes" with a smiley face, and "no" with a red x. She asked her a long series of yes or no questions, such as if she would be willing to use additional alternative communication such as sign language or typing. (To this, she replied no.) The doctor worked out that she was feeling traumatized and anxious, and Claudia felt alright that she knew these things. She wasn't very comfortable in the office, but once the doctor told her that she wouldn't be forced to communicate, she felt more at ease.

She ended up being put on an antidepressant and referred to a counselor.

"Well, how are you feeling after that appointment?" Leena asked as they drove back to the house.

Claudia nodded slightly.

"Are you feeling okay about school starting soon?"

This time her nod was a lie. But Leena wouldn't know that.

* * *

Three days later, school started. Claudia was in a maroon top, a leather vest, and skinny jeans, with chunky jewelry as accessories. She had gotten permission to remove her sling just the day before, and she was relieved to be going to school looking normal. She didn't feel normal, though. She walked down the hallway looking confident, but her ribs were killing her, and she couldn't bear to look anyone in the eye.

Leena had called the school about her earlier that week, referring to her silence as Post Traumatic Mutism. Claudia wondered if that was really what she had. She wasn't sure.

She showed up at her first class, where she found a card with her name on it at an empty desk. The teacher was writing things on the board. This was English class and the first assignment on the board was to write a short paragraph on what you did this summer. She had told her psychiatrist that she wouldn't be communicating through typing or writing, but she supposed if it was school-related, that was different.

After the boring and lecture-filled English class, Claudia left the classroom and went down the hallway to her locker. Before she got there, however, a large force side-swiped her, knocking the wind out of her because of her still-healing ribs.

"Hey fresh-meat," a large guy said. "What's your name?"

She ignored him and tried to move away, but he grabbed her shoulder, causing her to yelp in pain. Luckily, that was drowned out by the sounds of her school-mates moving and talking.

"I'm talking to you."

She felt like she was going to vomit, and wasn't exactly sure how to get out of the situation without getting herself into trouble.

"Hey, leave her alone," a tall boy with ice-blue eyes said, stepping between them.

"Got a problem, pansy boy?"

"Yeah. You're harassing this girl."

"You gonna do something about it?" The large boy asked menacingly.

"I'd suggest you leave her alone, unless you want to get kicked off the football team."

The boy sneered, but then stalked away.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked gently.

She nodded.

"I'm Steve, by the way."

She smiled, then went to her locker. She didn't want to be late for class… or form any attachments.


End file.
